IRON MAN
Senior lineman Volson reaches demanding 61 career games milestone
By Jeff KolpackThe Forum Fargo
The last time a record of 61 was broken around here, the number of significance was owned by Roger Maris. He’s the Fargo Shanley graduate who hit 61 home runs in 1961 for the New York Yankees.
On Saturday, North Dakota State right tackle Cordell Volson will join an exclusive college football 61 club when the Bison take on the University of South Dakota at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. He will join safety Christian Dudzik, defensive end Kyle Emanuel and fullback Andrew Bonnet as Bison players who have played in 61 career games.
“You hear 61 games and it doesn’t hit you right now, but maybe it’s something down the road I’ll look at,” Volson said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play in that many games and not get banged up. It’s something in the future that is going to be a pretty special memory.”
The ceiling on Volson could be 65 games, which would assume a firstround playoff bye and the team reaching the FCS title game in Frisco, Texas. It still would take a player from a very successful program who played in several games in the COVID-19-altered 2020 season, which for the FCS spilled into the spring of 2021.
The playoff format of the subdivision allows for four to five games after an 11- or 12-game regular season and makes those types of career records attainable.
“You talk about all the games,” Emanuel said. “When the NCAA sets this up, they’re not expecting teams to make it that far
for four, five years in a row. I always tell people, my body got beat up but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Christian, Andrew and Cordell would say the same thing. We’re fortunate and blessed to play in that many games. No other program has that.”
Volson’s record may be short-lived, however, and he knows it. Starting right guard Nash Jensen has played in 51 career games and tight end Josh Babicz 50. Both have made it known to the Bison coaches they’re coming back next season for the free year of eligibility.
Assuming NDSU ran the gamut this year and next, both could possibly play in at least 70 career games.
“Obviously all sorts of records are going to be broken with guys able to come back for a sixth year,” said Bison tight end Noah Gindorff. “It’s definitely an interesting time.”
Similar to when Maris broke Babe Ruth’s record
in 1961, when an asterisk was put on it because of games played in one season before later being removed, a case could be made for an asterisk to college football career records.
Dudzik, however, laughed at the thought.
“An asterisk? No, good for him because all of us that have played understand how taxing the game can be,” Dudzik said. “Both mentally and physically and especially for him and the style of play they have every game. I would say it’s harder for him to accomplish that. I’m just happy for him.”
Said Volson: “I appreciate that coming from a Bison great but, yeah, maybe there should be an asterisk next to it. I’ve just been very fortunate.”
Emanuel played in 71 career games in the NFL over five seasons. Counting his NDSU career, that’s 132 games. He can feel it at times, mainly in his low back if he’s on his
feet for too long or being more sore than normal after a workout.
“But for the most part, I’m holding up OK,” Emanuel said. “There are little things that pop up, things you just feel and that I know are from 10-plus years of high-level football.”
When Emanuel retired in 2018 after four seasons with the Chargers organization, he commonly heard the comment that it seemed too soon to leave the NFL. Most people also didn’t know how many games he played in college, either.
“Especially at a position like I did, like Cordell does,” Emanuel said. “You never really feel healthy. You never had a game where you didn’t have the bumps and bruises or fingers taped up. I guarantee Cordell is feeling the same way. And he’s had to do it in the spring and the fall, I never had to do that.”
Volson played in all of NDSU’s 10 games last
spring, with the last game the FCS quarterfinal loss on May 2 at Sam Houston. He took the rest of the month off and returned the football seasonal cycle to normal with the start of summer workouts in June.
He spent the first part of May making daily trips to the NDSU training room to accelerate the recovery process of bumps and bruises.
“Then I got out of town for a couple of weeks, just hung out and was on the down low,” Volson said. “It was refreshing to get away from the game because in this calendar year there’s been a lot of football. But I’ve been loving every second of it. You come here to play football, not to lift weights, so it’s nice to play a lot of ball in the last year.”
The NCAA record is 62 games held by Appalachian State’s Pierre Banks from 2004-08. Volson will pass that mark if the Bison win one playoff game. Dudzik will remain the NCAA record holder for games started with 61, and it’s possible that could stand the test of time of the extra year of eligibility for current players.
“Things fell into place, I got the opportunity to play as a redshirt freshman,” Dudzik said. “Just being a free safety or corner, it wasn’t like I was in the box a whole lot. I was a physical player, but it’s not like I had to do it every play.”
For Dudzik, Emanuel and Bonnet, however, their magical 61 mark is about to be erased. It took a world crisis to do it.
“It’s kind of funny, at the end of it, when I had my 61 games, we were all talking about how could that ever get beat?” Dudzik said. “Well, sure enough, something had to happen like that.”
Bison TE Gindorff invited to all-star game, ready to give NFL a shot
By Jeff Kolpack and Eric PetersonThe Forum
Fargo
North Dakota State’s two-headed tight end monster is going their separate directions after this season, but the hope is both will still be playing football. Senior Josh Babicz will return to the Bison in 2022 and utilize the extra year of NCAA eligibility because of the pandemic.
Senior Noah Gindorff will be giving the NFL his best shot. He’s off to a good start after being invited to the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl set for Jan. 29 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Originated in 2012, it’s the same game that former Bison offensive lineman Zack Johnson participated in in 2020.
“Seeing where the road can take me,” Gindorff said. “If that doesn’t work out, then I’ll have some decisions to make in regard to what I want to do, but as of now I’m planning on football after college.”
Gindorff said he’s still hoping for an invite from either the East-West Shrine Bowl or Senior Bowl. But for now, the priority is his final season at NDSU and the Missouri Valley Football Conference regular season finale against the University of South Dakota at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome.
Gindorff is one of 11 NDSU seniors who will be honored before the game.
“There are a lot of things this class had to put up with — the pandemic — and it’s different from the usual class,” he said. “I’m proud of the way we stood together and kept this team together.”
At 6-foot-6 and 266 pounds, Gindorff has NFL size. He’s also from a
program that has a former Bison tight end in the NFL in Ben Ellefson. The Minnesota Viking has been a good source of advice for Gindorff.
“He’s been really good to me through this process,” Gindorff said. “Just a good mentor and I can ask him any questions that I have. He’s someone who I’m very familiar with and good friends with who has recently been here, done that.”
Big weekend for the Entz family
It was a winning weekend for the Entz family last weekend. Kellen and Konner Entz, the sons of Bison head coach Matt Entz, played on the West Fargo Sheyenne football team that won a North Dakota Class 11AA state championship on Friday night. The Mustangs defeated West Fargo High School 27-7.
On Saturday, NDSU defeated Youngstown State 49-17 to earn a share of the Missouri Valley Football Conference title. When Matt Entz got home Saturday night, one of the first things he saw were two trophies on a living room mantel.
“It was a good day,” Matt Entz said. “I didn’t have any trophies to brag about or show. They were super excited.”
Matt Entz watched parts of the state title game on inforum.com between pregame Friday night meetings in Youngstown.
“The one who probably rides the emotional roller coaster the most is mom and wife,” Matt Entz said, in reference to Brenda Entz. “She does a tremendous job of keeping all of us going in the right direction.”
USD vying for
1st MVFC crown
South Dakota can clinch a share of its first Missouri Valley championship with a victory against NDSU. The Coyotes have won two consecutive games and five of their past six, and are coming off a dramatic 23-20 home victory against South Dakota State.
USD scored a touchdown on a 57-yard “Hail Mary” pass from quarterback Carson Camp to wide receiver Jeremiah Webb on the final play of the game. The ball was tipped multiple times by SDSU defenders before Webb caught the ball near the goal line and leaned in the end zone for the winning score.
The highlight garnered national attention, but Coyotes head coach Bob Nielson said his team is ready to move forward after the emotional victory with a game at the Fargodome against the Bison having conference title implications.
“I think that’s exactly why it’s easy to move past it because we’ve got a big game that has a tremendous amount of meaning,” Nielson said. “We’ve played good football, we’re going to play great football on Saturday. That’s going to be our focus. Our guys have a goal of competing for and winning a conference championship and that comes down to this game for us and beating, if not the best in the country, certainly one of the best in the country in North Dakota State.”
Coyotes 2-back attack
The Coyotes have relied on running backs Travis Theis and Nate Thomas to lead their ground game. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound Theis, a redshirt freshman, has rushed for 653 yards and seven touchdowns on 144 attempts. He leads the
team in rushing.
The 5-foot-8, 220-pound Thomas, a true freshman, has rushed for 602 yards and five touchdowns on 90 attempts.
Thomas is averaging 6.6 yards per carry,
“The ability to keep freshness among those backs gives them a little bit more ability to break tackles later in games,” Nielson said. “That’s always been something I believed in in the running game, to have two guys and those two have been pretty good in combination.”
Thomas rushed for 90 yards and a touchdown on 16 attempts in the victory against SDSU at the DakotaDome.
“For a true freshman to be playing at the level that he’s playing is a credit to him and how hard he’s worked in his development,” Nielson said.
The Coyotes are averaging 184.1 rushing yards per game. The Bison are limiting opponents to 83.9 rushing yards per game.
USD improved vs. the run
The Coyotes have an improved run defense this season, allowing 97.4 rushing yards per game.
“It’s certainly the best that we’ve played against the run since I’ve been here,” said Nielson, in his sixth season at USD.
The Bison are averaging 268.7 rushing yards per game and are coming off a dominant run game performance against Youngstown State last weekend. NDSU rushed for 454 yards on 45 attempts against the Penguins.
Nielson said that USD worked on defensive packages to be able to play better against run-heavy teams like NDSU, which often feature multiple tight ends and
fullbacks in its formations.
“It’s really helped develop packages and our guys have played in those situations with a lot more physicality and a lot more confidence,” Nielson said. “We specifically and intentionally … spent some time looking at ways to defend these heavierpersonnel types of teams.”
Coyotes senior linebacker Jack Cochrane leads the team with 83 tackles and sophomore linebacker Brock Morgensen is right behind with 68 tackles.
Odds and ends
► In somewhat of an oddity, the entire NDSU offensive line was named the Missouri Valley “Offensive Lineman of the Week” for its performance against Youngstown State. The Bison rushed for 454 yards behind 10 offensive linemen who played, the most yards for an NDSU team since 2008. It was the fourth time in league history an entire unit was honored with the award.
► The 2020 game that was to be played in 2021 in Vermillion, S.D., was canceled because of COVID19 protocols. The Bison were dominant in the last game, 2019 at the Fargodome, in a 49-14 win that included 700 yards of total offense — the third most in school history and most by an NDSU team in the Division era.
► It’s the annual Harvest Bowl at NDSU and the Bison will wear their green harvest helmets. In addition, they’ll wear their alternate gold jerseys for the first time since the 2019 national title game against James Madison. The Bison are 30-0 in those jerseys since their 2011 debut and 20-0 in the harvest helmets since the debut in November of 2015. The Bison are 14-0 in the gold jersey/ green helmet combination.
James Madison, Montana State, NDSU to make closing arguments
By Craig Haley Stats PerformThe race right behind topranked Sam Houston in the Stats Perform FCS
Top 25 is sizzling heading into the final full week of the regular season.
On Monday, the Bearkats (9-0) remained as a unanimous No. 1, a spot they’ve held since the preseason. The voting, though, is competitive between No. 2 James Madison, No. 3 Montana State and No. 4 North Dakota State, which are all 9-1 and trying to position for one of the top two seeds in the 24-team playoff field, which the NCAA will announce on Sunday.
The top two seeds are guaranteed home-field advantage through the semifinals. Sam Houston, the defending national champion and only unbeaten FCS team, appears to be in line for the No. 1 seed if it beats Abilene Christian on Saturday, which would extend its Division I-high 20-game winning streak.
The other closing arguments: James Madison will host Towson, while Montana State (at Montana) and North Dakota State (South Dakota) face more difficult opponents.
A national media panel selects the Stats Perform FCS Top 25. A first-place vote is worth 25 points, a secondplace vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.
Stats Perform FCS Top 25 (Nov. 15)
1. Sam Houston (9-0, 5-0
Kentucky
2. James Madison (9-1, 6-1 CAA), 1,182
Previous Ranking: 2; Week 11
Result: 32-22 win at then-No.
25 William & Mary
3. Montana State (9-1, 7-0 Big Sky), 1,163
Previous Ranking: 3; Week 11
Result: 20-13 win over Idaho
4. North Dakota State (9-1, 6-1 Missouri Valley), 1,096
Previous Ranking: 5; Week 11 Result: 49-17 win at Youngstown State
5. Eastern Washington (8-2, 5-2 Big Sky), 1,013
Previous Ranking: 7; Week 11
Result: 38-20 win at then-No. 6 UC Davis
6. Villanova (8-2, 6-1 CAA), 938
Sky), 889
Previous Ranking: 9; Week 11
Result: 30-3 win at Northern Arizona
8. ETSU (9-1, 6-1 Southern), 811
Previous Ranking: 11; Week
11 Result: 56-35 win at Western Carolina
9. Kennesaw State (9-1, 6-0 Big South), 802
Previous Ranking: 10; Week
11 Result: 28-24 win at North Alabama
10. UC Davis (8-2, 5-2 Big Sky), 749
Previous Ranking: 6; Week 11
Result: 38-20 loss to then-No. 7
Eastern Washington
11. Sacramento State (8-2, 7-0 Big Sky), 721
Previous Ranking: 12; Week 11
Previous Ranking: 4; Week 11
Result: 23-20 loss at then-No.
19 South Dakota
13. UT Martin (9-1, 5-0
Ohio Valley), 686
Previous Ranking: 13; Week 11
Result: 42-3 win at Tennessee
Tech
14. Missouri State (7-3, 6-2
Missouri Valley), 600
Previous Ranking: 16; Week 11
Result: 34-27 win over then-No.
20 Northern Iowa
15. Southeastern Louisiana (8-2, 6-1 Southland), 577
Previous Ranking: 14; Week
11 Result: 56-28 win over
Northwestern State
16. South Dakota (7-3, 5-2
Missouri Valley), 552
Previous Ranking: 19; Week 11
Result: 23-20 win over then-No.
11 Result: 47-21 win at Indiana State
18. UIW (8-2, 6-1 Southland), 479
Previous Ranking: 17; Week 11 Result: 27-23 win at Nicholls
19. Jackson State (9-1, 7-0 SWAC), 373
Previous Ranking: 18; Week 11 Result: 21-17 win at Southern
20. Dartmouth (8-1, 5-1 Ivy), 252
Previous Ranking: 22 (tie); Week 11 Result: 41-7 win over Cornell
21. Mercer (7-2, 6-1 Southern), 228
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 11 Result: 10-6 win over then-No. 22 Chattanooga
22. Stephen F. Austin (7-3, 3-2 AQ7), 105
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked; Week 11 Result: 27-14 win at Central Arkansas
23. Florida A&M